Checkmate in Six Moves
by Wildcard
Summary: Seto is renowned as a worldclass chess champion. Ryuuji prefers playing with people as pieces. Post series, manga verse. Shounen ai, light, dry humor.


_Checkmate In Six Moves._

Ryuuji doesn't like chess. He finds it too predictable. There are a set number of pieces that can only move in fixed ways; ergo, there are only a finite number of ways in which the game can be played. Why play a game if, in all likelihood, someone else has played it in exactly the same way?

Chess, Ryuuji grandly tells his door while both drunk and depressed, lacks originality.

One day (it's the modern version of once-upon-a-time), a green-eyed prince in black leather trousers and a black sleeveless top bumped into a blue-eyed prince (purely by accident, it had nothing to do with his crush on said blue-eyed beauty) and was glared at. Glared at in a manner that told the green-eyed boy that he was lower than the worms that crawled in the ground under their feet.

The green-eyed prince resented that (fine, so his Black Crown kingdom was a little smaller than Kaiba Corp but so what? He was still a prince!) and from that moment, the other prince was doomed.

Of course, just because Ryuuji doesn't like chess doesn't mean that he can't play. He knows there are 64 squares on a chessboard, that white moves first, and that the queens are the most important pieces.

He doesn't know if he's better at chess than Seto, but he'd like to find out.

Really, since Seto was the one to glare at Ryuuji (for one, small, innocent collision that was completely unplanned!), this is all Seto's fault. He brought it on himself. He threw the first rock, figuratively speaking..

Which is why Ryuuji felt no guilt at all when Seto was swarmed by Ryuuji's fangirls upon entering Xtreme Domino's biggest annual gaming conference.

You're only supposed to move one pawn at a time, but Ryuuji considers fangirls to only have one mind between them.

Seto pushed them all away, glaring coldly, and even descended to hitting one with his briefcase. It only took a second for the little hearts circling her head to turn to stars, and as she staggered, the other fangirls flocked to her in distress. Apparently their one brain-cell automatically defaulted to whomever was injured.

Seto escaped, smirked, then straightened his white trenchcoat before heading resolutely towards the table where poor, unsuspecting Yugi was examining a new pack of cards.

Rooks are underappreciated, Ryuuji finds. After all, their flat heads are quite cute, in a weird way. And one can balance thing on them while playing, like antidepressants. People that play against him usually end up needing them sooner or later.

Ryuuji sees Shizuka, and smiles at her. She blushes becomingly, then approaches him. Across the room, Honda spots them and instantly moves to intercept Shizuka. Instead, he crashes into Kaiba. Kaiba stumbles, glares, makes some scathing comment (and Ryuuji tells himself he is not jealous that Honda got a glare and an insult when Ryuuji only got a glare), and Honda retorts in like.

By the time Honda and Kaiba disengage, Yugi is long gone from Kaiba's line of sight.

Knights are far more loved, but Ryuuji doesn't really see their appeal. Occasionally he supposes the only reason they're so unthinkingly loyal is because their helmets blind them from seeing what they face.

That doesn't stop them from being useful, though, even if only as sacrifices.

When Jounouchi sees both Ryuuji and Honda apparently chatting up Shizuka, he instinctively steps forwards, blocking Yugi from sight, while Seto scans the room frantically for his target. Ryuuji slips his arm around Shizuka, Jou loses it and Honda isn't too happy either. Of course, it's impossible for Seto to just ignore Jou's distress, and a few well-chosen snide comments have Jou angered enough that he forgets all about their surroundings and just swings at Seto for blocking the way to Shizuka.

Ryuuji removes his arm from around Shizuka only after Jou has been kicked out of the conference.

Yugi, of course, follows Jou out.

So Seto leaves as well.

And Ryuuji? Hot on their trail.

Naturally, it's quite obvious that nobody wins a game playing the defensive. The best you can hope for in chess is a stalemate if those are the tactics you're using.

It's ironic, though, that when Ryuuji does take the offensive, he chooses to use a bishop. One would expect religious figures to advocate peaceful compromise – that is, if one ignores centuries of holy war and religious genocide.

As soon as they're outside again, Seto again tries to address Yugi in hopes of challenging him to a duel (Ryuuji's convinced that if Seto bumped into Yugi in a restroom, he'd challenge him before even zipping up his pants). This time, though, Anzu appears as Ryuuji knew she would. After all, her dancing studio is just across the street and her lessons usually end about this time.

The girl not only cuts Seto off mid-challenge, but proceeds to scold him for trying to ruin such a beautiful day by getting her friends kicked out of the conference. Ryuuji lurks on the outside of the group, and doesn't point out he's actually the one responsible. Girls can be scary; especially the ones who are so convinced they're in the right.

Anzu finishes off with a statement that they can go get ice-cream and extends the invitation to Seto, even though the only use he'd have for an olive branch is as a blunt instrument. Unsurprisingly, Seto declines and turns away curtly. Ryuuji waves them off as well and when Seto tries to reenter the convention, he finds his way blocked.

Queens are supposed to be the best piece in chess, the ones that can move anywhere and do anything to protect their kings. Ryuuji and Seto have no queens though; both their mothers are dead. Their fathers are as well – now, usually when a king dies, the princes become kings. Usually being the keyword. Sometimes the princes bow to the other kings, like the King of Games. Or they elect someone they hold dear to the throne, just so they can protect them – and sometimes, they dismiss anyone else who could protect their king just so that they can be the only one to do so; the only one to be so close.

Mokuba is standing in the doorway, pouting at Seto, demanding to know why he left the convention. Seto explains he was trying to challenge Yugi to a match, and Ryuuji half-smirks. Yugi's been looking tired lately, unhappy without his other half and Ryuuji sees no reason to expose him to the additional stress of dueling. Not that he's one of Yugi's inner circle of defenders or anything, just that he feels he owes him something for having freed Ryuuji from his father.

As for Mokuba…well, Seto would protect Mokuba from inhaling carbon dioxide if he could. Ryuuji swears he wouldn't be surprised to see Mokuba walking around in a portable oxygen tank one day. Right now, Mokuba looks pouty. After all, Yugi-tachi and he have done a lot together and just because Seto wants to be a castle unto himself (and Mokuba) doesn't mean Mokuba agrees. And of course Seto will do whatever Mokuba wants…Ryuuji was counting on it.

Ryuuji often finds that people forget one very important thing about kings – they're just playing pieces. They're just pawns in a different shape. True, if the king gets captured, that's it, game over, but still, the king can't move of his own accord. Someone else has to move him. Therefore, the point isn't to be the king, it's to be the one responsible for moving him.

Ryuuji steps out from the shadows, then, pretending to have finished making a call, and waves casually at the two of them. Mokuba asks him eagerly if he knows where Yugi-tachi went, while Seto pretends not to care. Ryuuji assumes a thoughtful look, then shakes his head no with well-feigned regret. Quickly, though, (just before Mokuba turns away in disappointment), Ryuuji adds that he knows an extremely good ice-cream parlor with (and this is his ace card, his worm-bait) over a hundred different flavors. Mokuba's eyes light up at that and Seto has no choice but to reluctantly go get ice-cream with his little brother and Ryuuji.

Seto decides the ice-cream isn't that bad, but doesn't admit it. He doesn't admit that Ryuuji isn't that bad either.

Ryuuji doesn't like chess, but he does like winning.

_Fin._

Author's note: I think that Seto/Ryuuji is starting to take over from Ryuuji/Malik as my favorite pairing for the ever-lovely Ryuuji…


End file.
